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David Michael Pallone (born October 5, 1951 in Waltham, Massachusetts) is a former Major League Baseball umpire who worked in the National League from 1979 to 1988. On April 30, 1988, Pallone was involved in a highly controversial confrontation with Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose. The incident led to fans throwing garbage on the field, temporarily stopping the game and causing Pallone to be taken out of the game to ease tensions. In September of that year, Pallone was forced to resign. He was "outed" in a New York Post article later in the year. Pallone later wrote his autobiography, Behind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball, about his experiences as a gay man working in baseball. His autobiography became a New York Times best-seller, and he now spends his time working with gay youth, speaking to corporations and athletes with the NCAA about diversity in regard to sexual orientation, and is preparing to launch the EBook version of Behind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball.

Guido Westerwelle (born December, 27 1961) is a German politician who served as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011. He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions. He had been the chairman of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) since May 2001, but stepped down in 2011. A lawyer by profession, he was member of the Bundestag from 1996 to 2013.

Interesting Facts:

The Oldest Known Gay Graffiti: Found on the Greek island of Santorini, formerly Thera. The inscription dates date from the sixth century B.C.and appears to record homosexual acts performed as rites of initiation.

The First English-language Dictionary of Sexual Information: “The Encyclopedia of Sexual Knowledge”, edited by the Australian homophile Norman Haire in 1934 .

Dates to Remember:

1836: The Last Execution for Homosexuality in Britain: The death penalty for sodomy would, however, remain on the books until 1861.

1968: The first complete sex-change operation: Performedin the U.S. by Dr John Money of John Hopkins University.